The invention relates generally to prepaid wireless communications services accounts and, more particularly, to a system and method of purchasing products and services using a prepaid wireless communications services account.
In a conventional wireless communications network, such as a GSM network, service subscribers are often charged for services used via a settlement account assigned to the subscriber. At predetermined time intervals, e.g., monthly, the balance of a subscriber""s settlement account is determined and a corresponding bill sent to the subscriber.
A variant of the above-described scenario involves the use of prepaid accounts. In this scenario, instead of a settlement account, a debit account is opened and assigned to a subscriber as identified by a subscriber profile. In operation, incoming calls from prepaid wireless communications services (xe2x80x9cPWCSxe2x80x9d) subscribers are selected and switched by a mobile switching center (xe2x80x9cMSCxe2x80x9d). For each such call, a connection is established if the subscriber""s debit account contains a predetermined minimum balance. Within a service control point (xe2x80x9cSCPxe2x80x9d), the switched call is charged by deducting a predetermined unit (e.g., xe2x80x9cper minutexe2x80x9d) fee from the debit account. A service switching point (xe2x80x9cSSPxe2x80x9d) releases the connection if the debit account fails to have a positive balance at any time during the call. Typically, a financial interface will be provided between the SCP and a financial clearing house network for enabling credit card recharging of the prepaid account.
It is conceivable that there will be occasions in which a PWCS subscriber would want to purchase a product or service other than a wireless communications service at a time at which he or she is in possession of a wireless communications device, such as a cellular telephone, having a prepaid account associated therewith, but not a calling card, debit card, cash, or other means of payment.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for enabling a PWCS subscriber to use a prepaid account associated with a wireless communications device to purchase products or services other than wireless communications services.
Accordingly, system and method for enabling products and services to be purchased using a prepaid account assigned to a wireless communications services subscriber and associated with a wireless communications device is disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, a telephone number of a wireless communications device, such as a cellular telephone, having a prepaid account associated therewith is entered using a keypad of a conventional magnetic stripe card reader. The amount of the purchase, as well as a merchant ID, are entered in the same fashion. The entered information is forwarded to a financial institution, which routes the information to a financial clearing house network according to the telephone number. The financial clearing house network routes the data through a financial interface of a wireless communications network to a service control point (xe2x80x9cSCPxe2x80x9d) containing the subscriber record associated with the telephone number. At the SCP, a determination is made whether there are sufficient funds in the subscriber""s prepaid account to cover the amount of the purchase. If so, the transaction is allowed and the subscriber""s account is debited in the amount of the purchase. Otherwise, the transaction is denied and the merchant is notified of the denial in a conventional fashion.
In one aspect, before the subscriber""s prepaid account is debited in the amount of the purchase, a short message service center (xe2x80x9cSMSCxe2x80x9d) connected to the SCP generates a message to the wireless communications device to obtain subscriber verification and authorization of the transaction. For example, the purchase price may be displayed and the subscriber prompted to xe2x80x9cPress 1xe2x80x9d to authorize the transaction or to xe2x80x9cPress 2xe2x80x9d to reject the transaction. Moreover, an additional level of security may be provided by requiring the subscriber to enter a personal identification number (xe2x80x9cPINxe2x80x9d) prior to permitting him or her to authorize or reject the transaction.
A technical advantage achieved with the invention is that it enables prepaid wireless communications services subscribers to pay for products and/or services in circumstances in which they might not otherwise be able to purchase them.